Axle Bearing Service - Dos and Dont's???

[Baja_Man]

Trailer: 2011 Keystone 25RS
GVWR: 7500#
Axles, bearings, brakes, etc. have never been serviced. (the way I purchased from original owner)
Mileage: Approx. 10,000

Considering servicing my own bearings, seals, and potentially brakes. I'm pretty handy and have plenty of tools. I have never serviced travel trailer bearings before. Boat trailer bearings, seals, races, hubs, YES......but not travel trailer axles, bearings, seals, brakes, magnets.

A few questions I have been pondering:

Are there any good step by step procedures or videos you can refer me to?

Are brake drums turned?

When are brake shoes replaced?

Are magnets replaced? How do you inspect and what to look for in terms of wear, required thickness, etc?

Where can I source Timken bearings and quality USA seals?


Many thanks!

[StirCrazy]

JIMNLIN wrote:

Trailer: 2011 Keystone 25RS
GVWR: 7500#
Axles, bearings, brakes, etc. have never been serviced. (the way I purchased from original owner)
Mileage: Approx. 10,000

My thoughts on trailer brakes or bearings have never been serviced in 11 years/10k miles.
I've put over a dozen new non rv trailers in service using 3500k up to 11k axles...the same sizes and brand axles used on rv trailers.
Before any new or used trailer was put in service the hubs were pulled all brakes and bearings were R&R and serviced.
Several times we caught a axle with no grease on one end or simply not enough grease for that type of work. Or a brake magnet with no 12v due to various reasons.
Point is don't assume the bearings have grease or even proper amount of grease or the brakes are working just cause the trailer is new or used with just 10k miles.

Comparing trailer bearings/wheels/suspensions/etc vs our truck/car/van/suv same components IMO is apples vs marshmallows.

yup my first warenty claim was because of the factry not greasing the axels properly. replaced two of the 4 hubs. I always recomend checking them and maybe repacking them when you first buy it with good wheel berring grease but after that I only redo them every 5 years for the amount of driving I do.. some one who is always on the move might have to go more often, but every year is mostly because your board.

Steve

[Jeffrey12]

Great feedback from the bloggers on this channel!

[JIMNLIN]

Trailer: 2011 Keystone 25RS
GVWR: 7500#
Axles, bearings, brakes, etc. have never been serviced. (the way I purchased from original owner)
Mileage: Approx. 10,000

My thoughts on trailer brakes or bearings have never been serviced in 11 years/10k miles.
I've put over a dozen new non rv trailers in service using 3500k up to 11k axles...the same sizes and brand axles used on rv trailers.
Before any new or used trailer was put in service the hubs were pulled all brakes and bearings were R&R and serviced.
Several times we caught a axle with no grease on one end or simply not enough grease for that type of work. Or a brake magnet with no 12v due to various reasons.
Point is don't assume the bearings have grease or even proper amount of grease or the brakes are working just cause the trailer is new or used with just 10k miles.

Comparing trailer bearings/wheels/suspensions/etc vs our truck/car/van/suv same components IMO is apples vs marshmallows.

[JRscooby]

klutchdust wrote:
Replacing the bearing, replace the race. Pull a wheel, replace the seal. Always use a torque wrench on the lug nuts.

The first thing you should clean/inspect is the race and hub. Most likely you will save the hub so no waste in cleaning it. The race is easy to inspect, compared to bearing. And if the race is bad, no reason to waste time cleaning the bearing, they are junk.

[mosseater]

A lot of good info here. If the OP has done other types of bearings successfully this should not be a big deal. One item I will mention that I don't see mentioned ever is when disassembled and cleaned up, make sure to check the inner spindle bearing surface. The little hole drilled for the Easy Lube system sits right at the shoulder of the inner bearing seating surface. That little hole was extremely sharp from the factory and can cut a brand new seal lip when installing. I hit it with a small grinding stone and polished with Scotchbrite so the seal will slip over without damage. Also, I upgraded to new spindle nuts and spring keepers over the stock Castle nut and cotter pin arrangment. You want the bearing just on the looser side of zero preload. Don't tighten it down or you'll burn the bearing. Torque the nut to about 40 lb/ft while spinning the wheel, stop spinning and remove nut a few threads, then without moving the wheel, take it in finger tight to the first tightest place you can get the nut retainer on.

[klutchdust]

Replacing the bearing, replace the race. Pull a wheel, replace the seal. Always use a torque wrench on the lug nuts.

[Baja_Man]

quick update....

I waited too long to complete this service and now it's too dang hot to do this work outside!!

As soon as it cools I will git er done!

Info on Timken Bearings Set 17 (L68149/L68111)......

Amazon show images of bearings that have USA imprinted on them, but under "Technical Details" it states country of origin as China. Some Amazon reviewers state that they received bearings Made in USA. I may chance it and return if not USA made. I'm not even sure if stamped USA means made in USA or assembled in USA.

Called Summit Racing today and had them check on the same bearings. Customer service has information that is not available on their website that includes builder/manufacturer information. They looked them up and assured me their info states, "Country of Origin: USA."

I hope this information helps those that prefer to use Timken bearings.

[ajriding]

Do it yourself so if out on the road you have the knowledge already to inspect/fix/repair it.

Easy for anyone half-handy.

Car bearings can go 100's of thousands of miles, so why is 10,000 miles a concern?
IDK why trailer bearings need service so often when there are cars with 300k that have never been looked at, serviced or anything and are fine...

You do need to adjust your trailer bearings often, every few thousand miles, and adjust the brakes unless they are self-adjusting, or at least inspect them. etrailer dot come has good info for all the above.

Lift the wheel/axle and wiggle the tire hard and if there is play you need to adjust. If the wheel drags when spun then needs adjust. If it sounds dry then needs grease. Not too much grease or excess will spill into your brakes.

The bearings do not have to be perfect to work, they just need to spin and not be loose one second and too tight the next. I have seen worse bearings on cars that have gone thousands of miles. If able it is best to have good bearings, but do not panic if you are out on a trip and discover they are not perfect. Grease will cover a lot of sins and get you home safely usually.

[deltabravo]

Use good quality grease.

[JRscooby]

CharlesinGA wrote:
Race drivers are cheap and readily available. I used a punch and care for many years, till I bought a race driver set. Night and day difference. Can drive the race in a couple of good hits and move on to the next one, and no worries about anything slipping and damaging the race or your fingers.

I gave up doing things the hard way.

Since most auto parts stores have them in the loan pool, why fight it?

For seals I use a wood block and hammer to get it started and then off to the arbor press with a socket that sits just right on the seal.

JRscooby wrote:
The only "special" tool I grab is a punch, long enough to reach thru hub, leave room to hold. Needs a flat point, to catch the edge of race. And works better if it is something hard, tool steel, so it will transfer the impact to race, not distort or bounce around. Mine is long enough that I can catch the seal thru bearing, and pop it out.

Though I do not own any, Snap On actually makes punches specifically for bearing race removal that are oval tipped. Not cheap but if you do a lot of bearing races, its probably worth having. I miss the older auto hubs with notches cast into them behind the races to give you full access to the back side of the race,

Back when I was doing maybe a couple dozen axles a year, I had all the tools to do it fast and easy. (Many times, before I grabbed the hammer I would run a bead 1/3 of the way around on race. The heat break loc-tight, weld pull reduce the chance of damage to alloy hub.)
Down at the landscapers shop, there are tools I made to use press to install races and seals. The kid I trained can handle them pretty quick. But how often does the average person looking at this site service bearings? I do mine every other year.

[CharlesinGA]

Race drivers are cheap and readily available. I used a punch and care for many years, till I bought a race driver set. Night and day difference. Can drive the race in a couple of good hits and move on to the next one, and no worries about anything slipping and damaging the race or your fingers.

I gave up doing things the hard way.

Since most auto parts stores have them in the loan pool, why fight it?

For seals I use a wood block and hammer to get it started and then off to the arbor press with a socket that sits just right on the seal.

JRscooby wrote:
The only "special" tool I grab is a punch, long enough to reach thru hub, leave room to hold. Needs a flat point, to catch the edge of race. And works better if it is something hard, tool steel, so it will transfer the impact to race, not distort or bounce around. Mine is long enough that I can catch the seal thru bearing, and pop it out.

Though I do not own any, Snap On actually makes punches specifically for bearing race removal that are oval tipped. Not cheap but if you do a lot of bearing races, its probably worth having. I miss the older auto hubs with notches cast into them behind the races to give you full access to the back side of the race,

Oval Bearing Race Punches

Charles

[ferndaleflyer]

I'll probably have bearing failure tomorrow for saying this but I have a 32ft enclosed tr-axel car trailer that I bought new in 1999 and has over 100,000mi on it and has never had a bearing packed or a failure---it has had the brakes replaced several times.

[Fisherman]

JBarca wrote:
Oh and another thing, when buying the grease seals, look for the double lip seal with the garter spring inside. They do sell single lip seals in the trailer industry with no garter spring. Yes they work, but they are so cheap it is pathetic to consider using them on such an important thing to keep dirt out of the bearings. The cost to upgrade to the double lip seal is not much and very much worth it.

Without a doubt, one of the best seals to use, same for boat trailers.

[JBarca]

Oh and another thing, when buying the grease seals, look for the double lip seal with the garter spring inside. They do sell single lip seals in the trailer industry with no garter spring. Yes they work, but they are so cheap it is pathetic to consider using them on such an important thing to keep dirt out of the bearings. The cost to upgrade to the double lip seal is not much and very much worth it.

[JBarca]

Baja Man wrote:


Are there any good step by step procedures or videos you can refer me to?

Are brake drums turned?

When are brake shoes replaced?

Are magnets replaced? How do you inspect and what to look for in terms of wear, required thickness, etc?

Hi,

I'll add some not said already. See this post on the towing forum, it may help Annual Brake Inspection and Axle Re - Lube (Pic's)

To turning the brake drum, this is what I have found, and this applies to trailer drum brakes, not automotive. There are 2 parts on trailer electric brake drums that need to be looked at.

The brake shoe riding surface. There is a minimum wear diameter stamped into the drum. Odds are high with only 10,000 miles on the trailer with manual adjust brakes, you have not exceeded the min. wear. If the drum shoe surface is smooth and not grooved up, then I would not have it turned. I have asked at the local auto parts store if they turn trailer drums. They did, so I asked to tell me what total runout (TIR) of the drum will be turned too? They said it would be in spec. I said what is the spec, they did not know. I said thank you, and left. Trailer drums do not spin very true like autos brake drums. The drum being 0.015" out of round at the shoe surface is acceptable. I have seen some at 0.025" TIR. I'm not keen on that and prefer them to be at least within 0.005" TIR. If you take your drums to a place to turn them, confirm what they will hold them too, or forget it. They may be worse then what you started with. Just spin the drum when you go to adjust the brakes. You will hear a skip and a swoosh as the drum spins. The skip is air touching the shoes, and the swoosh is the lining touching the drum. The drum is spinning out of round and that is the way trailer brakes are.

For sure, adjust the brake shoes as part of the bearing servicing and make sure the adjuster is not rusted up. Unless you have the newer forward self adjusting brake option, they are manual adjust and should be tweaked every 2,000 miles for adjustment. And manual adjust brakes do not wear fast as they wear out of adjustment and the owner never knew to adjust them. Years go by with no adjustment. When they are not in adjustment, the shoes/or drums do not wear much as they are not stopping well, the truck is doing more of the stopping.

The other part of the drum is the magnet surface. I have found, the magnet surface wears more then the drum shoe surface to be a problem. This can come in the 20,000 to 30,000 mile time frame. If you have grooved scored areas in the magnet surface, and the depth of the groove is greater then 0.010", then get the magnet surface refaced or replace the drum. If the groove gets to 0.012" - 0.015" deep, or deeper, you will start loosing braking strength as the magnet needs good full contact to have the proper holding strength. There are not many drum shops that can handle the magnet surface. And a full machine shop can do it, but it may cost more then a new drum. There is a Dexter tolerance on resurfacing the magnet face. I would have to look it up. Something in the 0.030" range, but don't quote me on that.

Dexter states that when the shoes wear to 1/16" of lining, it is time to replace them. Small heat cracks in the linings are considered normal. The shoes are bonded to the lining so it is not a problem. The shoes are not thick when new like the older automotive drum brakes use to be.

The magnets need to be wearing flat and even, not on an angle. A magnet that wears on an angle generally has an issue with the mounting being worn holding it to the magnet arm. And you can't buy just a magnet arm as a spare part, but you can buy new magnets. If the arm is shot, then it's time for an entire new brake plate. Many magnets have wear dots on them, 4 small holes about 1/32" in diameter in the wear surface. When the hole is worn flat and gone, the magnet is considered to be replaced.

When you have the wheels off, look at the trailer suspension and the leaf spring bushings. Odds are high, at 10,000 miles the original nylon spring pin bushings are worn through and you are grinding the pin on the leaf spring. The standard nylon bushings have been known to wear through in 8,000 miles pending dust etc. conditions. Check the shackles for wear, odds are high the equalizer center pin is worn through the nylon bushing and eating into the casting. When the casting is worn, any new bushing in it will wear faster. Replace the equalizer if the casting has wear. They are cheap. When the center pin wears, it starts flexing the equalizer and the shackle links. Flexing shackle links start wearing faster/worse and soon the spring pins in the links start spinning making everything wear even faster. In order to check the nylon bushings, you almost have to pull the pins, and by then, replace the bushings. If you want to keep the camper another 10,000 miles, consider a greaseable bronze wet bolt kit upgrade with heavy duty shackles. When the shackles start wearing from spinning pins, sooner or later they will break the hole out through shackle plate at the pins area and leave you stranded on the side of the road.

Hope this helps

John

John